Over the last three weeks the letters page of the Caernarfon & Denbigh Herald has seen a litle spat between myself and Plaid's Cheerleader in Chief, Maldwyn "The Mathamatician" Lewis.
It seems that Maldwyn has real issues with myself and with Llais Gwynedd, merely due to the fact that we are standing up to Plaid and some council officers who show little or no consideration to the views of electors and ratepayers on a whole range of issues.
Whilst he vents his spleen on hearsay I responded with facts...now he has spat out his dummy and got personal so I shall not be responding just in case he throws his rattle out and I wouldn't want to bore the Herald's readers either who quite frankly deserve better.
Here are the letters in question....judge for yourself;
Little Maldwyn's 1st Letter:
AFTER nearly 30 years as a Gwynedd county councillor and chairing for many years the council’s schools, education and finance committees I am saddened by the behaviour of the Llais Gwynedd councillors. During the last election they campaigned negatively and viciously. They appear to have adopted the same attitude as councillors
Cyngor Gwynedd has a long tradition of debating in a courteous manner. Llais Gwynedd have tragically poisoned the atmosphere of the debates by their spiteful and personal remarks concerning conscientious and able officers and fellow councillors.
As far as I can ascertain not one of their suggestions has been adopted.
None of them seem to have a rudimentary knowledge of Local Government finance.
They have wasted ratepayers money and councillors time by postponing urgent decisions with unrealistic and naïve proposals.
As a result the District Auditor and Dafydd Ellis Thomas have now warned Gwynedd that the authority is in real danger of losing its share of the capital available to build new schools because of the delay in making unpopular but necessary resolutions.
It seems to me significant that in last Thursday’s meeting of the full council Llais Gwynedd spent 45 minutes discussing unsuccessfully public toilets and a mere 10 minutes on the vital rates’ proposals.
MALDWYN LEWIS
Borth y Gest
My reply:
Dear Sir,
I would like to respond to Maldwyn Lewis' letter in the Herald (March 13th) and his totally unfounded criticism of Llais Gwynedd members on Gwynedd Council and in particular in Council Meetings.
Although meetings of the full Council, Council Board,Area Committees and Scrutiny Committees are open to the public, neither I or my fellow members have any recollection of seeing Mr Lewis sitting in the public gallery to listen to deliberations or indeed to witness the behaviour of any member of the Council from any party or group. How therefore can he sit in his ivory tower in Borth y Gest and write such a critical letter against members of one particular group who sit on the Council?
Mr Lewis then accuses Llais Gwynedd of poisoning the atmosphere in the Chamber by “making spiteful and personal remarks concerning members and officers", once again, given the fact that Mr Lewis has not graced the Council or its meetings with his presence since the May election, what evidence has he got to support his wild accusation? Following December's meeting of the full Council a member of the Plaid Cymru group was reprimanded for swearing at me during a debate where I was presenting a report that saved the ratepayers of Gwynedd £1.4m by re-structuring the senior management team of the Council. No member of Llais Gwynedd has spoken in such a vindictive and undignified way to another member or officer of the Council at any meeting and I would sincerely hope that no member of the group would ever do so neither!
His letter goes on to accuse Llais Gwynedd of making “unrealistic and naive proposals”...here are two examples of amendments that were proposed by Llais Gwynedd at the last Council meeting – A proposal to rise the home care fee by 25% rather than by 50% in order to lessen the effect on the vulnerable elderly people in the County and their carers (nothing naive about this, just a reasonable and fair compromise I would say?). A proposal to keep the Bryn Llywelyn Care Home open and to develop it for the future...once again, a proposal that respected the wishes of the residents, their families, the staff, local GP's and the wider community (nothing unreal about that, just responding positively and reasonably to the wishes of ratepayers).
To close,Mr Lewis arrogantly spouts that the Council (not Llais Gwynedd I add) discussed public toilets for 45 minutes and the rates for only ten. The answer to that is simple. The increase in the rates in Gwynedd for the coming year is one of the lowest in Wales and from what I could see there was more or less unanimous support for that increase. However, the threat to close the public toilets across the county has received widespread condemnation from the elderly, young mothers, community councils, tourist associations and those suffering from various bowl and urinary illnesses across the County due to the fact that such proposals pose a serious danger to public health. Thanks to Llais Gwynedd they will remain open for at least six months longer than intended so that a detailed assessment can be made as to what effect any proposed closures will have in each individual community.
Finally, I would like to invite Mr Lewis and any other reader of the Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald living in Gwynedd to attend the meetings of the Council, Council Board or any of its Committees so that he and everyone else can see exactly how every member behaves and how they represent the people who elected them. Maybe he, more than anyone will be surprised and saddened by the members of his own party, Plaid Cymru...or maybe that is the real reason why he keeps away, because of the embarrassment and indignation?
Councillor Gwilym Euros Roberts
Llais Gwynedd - Blaenau Ffestiniog
Little Maldwyn's 2nd Letter in response to the above from me...Mind that dummy!!
I ventured to express my concern at the irreverent behaviour of most of the Llais Gwynedd councillors and their unrealistic proposals.
Gwilym Euros’s petulant and abusive reply and ridiculous boasts demonstrate how valid and accurate my criticisms were. I have the impression that I read much more thoroughly the council’s reports and minutes than him.
Gwynedd has always had a praiseworthy tradition of debating in a civilised and courteous manner. Every councillor I meet complains that it is no longer a pleasure to attend council meetings because a number of his group continually make demeaning remarks concerning fellow councillors and administrators.
Euros brags that Llais Gwynedd have opposed the closure of public toilets and of Bryn Llywelyn. Do his party believe that the ratepayers’ pocket is bottomless?.
The officers made a detailed analysis of the condition and use of the Authority’s 94 toilets. They recommended the closure of 23 of them and reopening another 14. This provided a net saving of £100,000.
The multi-party board recommended acceptance of the suggestions.
Euros rejoices that Llais Gwynedd managed to delay the implementation for six months but all this achieves is to pour about £50,000 of scarce revenue down the sewers.
Bryn Llewelyn is an old mansion which will cost at least £140,000 merely to repair and maintain. It costs £850 per head a week to maintain compared with £410 in Bryn Blodau in the same village. This is surely a ridiculous and unjustifiable expenditure in this austere period in local government finances. Gwynedd’s reserves have already been reduced by Llais Gwynedd’s procrastinations to a diminutive £5m.
A wise old councillor’s advice to new members was: "For the first few months open your eyes and ears and close your lips. When it is necessary to drown someone’s argument do so in a civilised manner and always in warm water."
All of us, including Euros and Llais Gwynedd, would be well advised to consider this suggestion. A courteous and constructive exchange of opinion is the very essence of democracy.
MALDWYN LEWIS
Borth-y-gest
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